Together for a cleaner environment

On the 15th of April ADRA Reflect team organised a cleaning action together with the Roma children that attend ADRA centre. The propose was to clean the environment around the centre and the neighbourhood were the Roma community lives. 

Every child, who was present this day got a paper on his belly where was written “Duam Qytetin te paster”, which means “we want a clean environment”. With gloves and rubbish bags the children went into the street collecting as much rubbish as they could.

During this action the children were very proud of what they were doing and we could see in their eyes their happiness. In the way to the Roma community two Roma children became part of our group; they wanted to contribute in this action. 

Florena a non Roma girl, who is attending regularly ADRA Albania centre, was walking hand in hand with another Roma girl picking up the rubbish from the street. 

The children were not able to clean the whole street from the rubbish but after all that was not our aim. The purpose of the project was to raise the children´s awareness for their own environment and also to impart the importance and the beauty of a clean nature. 

At the end of the cleaning action we put all the full garbage bags into the container. 

It seems like the children really wrote the message of our initiative into their heart and would like to impart the idea of “loving a clean environment”.

Celebrating Roma Day

For the first time ADRA Albania had organized an event in occasion of “International Roma week“ and “ International Day of Health“ at the George Bush square in Fushë-Kruja.

This event was not only organized to celebrate the International Roma day but also to raise the awareness of Fushë-Kruja citizens toward Roma discrimination in everyday life and to inform them about the heritage and culture of the Roma community.

The event was realized through a close collaboration with Fushë-Kruja municipality, the Regional Directorate of Public Health Kruje, Red Cross and Albanian Community Association.

The citizens were closely acquainted with traditional Roma clothes which were presented by the Roma women at this event. Furthermore the Roma women that attend REFLECT project conveyed an atmosphere of celebration according to their culture and danced traditional Roma music.

A citizen of Fushë-Kruja who was present in the event said: “Today for the first time I noticed that the Roma have a beautiful and unique culture and I hope that this day becomes a tradition for the Fushë-Kruja town”.

Related to its regional project “Love Your Heart”, which is funded by the IPA Adriatic Cross Border Program, ADRA Albania gave some medical advises for a healthy lifestyle.

Some Roma citizens also followed the Red Cross motto “Donate blood, save a life” and they felt really happy that their gesture could save the life of another person.

The event was concluded by a peaceful march from the centre of Fushë-Kruja till to the Roma community, in which participated Roma and non Roma citizens. 

ADRA organized a meeting with the Roma parents and the teachers of the public school

After the Roma children of Fushe Kruja overcame the Hepatitis A infection in the end of January 2014, they were able to attend the school again. Still many  Rom children did not  attend the public school regularly during the last weeks. This has acquired because of a misunderstanding between the parents of the Roma children and the teachers. In order to solve this issue, ADRA Albania  has organised a meeting with the Roma parents and the teachers of the public school on February 2014.

In this meeting, we had the participation of eight Roma women. In the beginning the Roma women were very shy because of their low self-esteem and they are not used to share and protect their own point of view in public. Yet before the meeting ADRA staff was talking to the women and  ADRA team explained to them the importance of being present at the meeting and to clarify the problems with the staff of the public school.

The Roma women had the feeling that their children are treated in a different way by the teachers of the public school then the Albanian children. Also they shared with the staff that there were some problems with the transportation of the children from the Roma community to the public school.

ADRA staff were presented during the whole meeting and act as a facilitator between the Roma parents and the teachers of the public school.

During the discussion the deputy director of the public school took Fatime, a Roma children who is attending the public school, in front of the class and compliment her for attending the school. She said:“ Even if Fatime is living in poverty, she is attending the  regularly the school.“ Her mother who was present at the meeting was very proud of her daughter.

In the end, most of the Roma women attending this meeting considered this kind of activities very important as they understood that it was not the faulted of the teachers that their children do not learn in school but it was their fault as they neglect them in daily life. 

News from Fushe Kruja - the health situation has improved

Two weeks are passed since the Roma Community in Fushe Kruja has been affected by Hepatitis A. Ten children had to be hospitalized and treated for some days at the local public hospital in Kruja. In the last two weeks, the children of the Roma community could not attend the public school because the risk of infection was too high. But after conducting the medical test and receiving the confirmation from the doctors that the risk of infection was eliminated, it is very important that the children continue going to school. Therefore, on Monday, the 27^th of January ADRA staff went to Fushe Kruja to visit the Roma Community. ADRA staff of the Reflect project spoke with the parents to convince them to sending their children to school. In the same time, ADRA staff also visited the public school, and spoke and informed the teachers, that the children of the Roma community will continue to attend the school in the upcoming days and that there is no risk of infection anymore. During the lessons with the Roma women at ADRA centre, a team of journalists from the Albanian public television (TVSH) came to make a short report of the health situation of the Roma Community in Fushe Kruja. Rezarta Prence, a member of ADRA staff and social worker of the Reflect Project gave an interview to TVSH in which she described the actual health situation and also the work of ADRA Albania in Fushe Kruja.

Emergency situation in the Roma community of Fushë- Kruja

Since the last days the Roma community in Fushë-Kruja has been affected by an unexpected disease. Some children have been infected with Hepatitis A. The people of the Roma Community use the water from the polluted river which crosses Fushë-Kruja, as well this river serves as garbage dump. Probably the bad hygienic circumstances and the consumption of this water are the reasons for the infection. Currently 10 Roma children are at the public hospital in Kruja, the others are sick but their parents are not sending them at the hospital.

After being informed about this emergency situation, the ADRA Reflect team has visited the community in order to raise awareness about the importance of not consuming the polluted water from the river.  Until now, the Roma community in Fushë Kruja has refused to pay and consume the water from the tab because they don’t want to pay their water bill. After a lively discussion with the Roma community members on Monday, ADRA Reflect Team and the chief of the public water administration has convinced the majority of the Roma people to collect money in order to pay and to consume the tab water for now on.  In the end, the Roma community in Fushë Kruja is more aware about the risks and dangers of polluted water and importance of hygiene.

 

At the same time, due to the emergency situation created in this community, a team of doctors of the public health department visited the Community to take blood analyses of the children. The infection with Hepatitis A of many of the Roma children during these days will not allow them to attend the public school for the next three weeks. This is a big problem because the children are not able to make up the lessons by themselves and their parents cannot help them. ADRA Reflect Team tried to find a solution in cooperation with the public school. Soon ADRA Albania will conduct an awareness campaign in order re-explain the importance of vaccination.

A very different Independence Day!

On 27 November 2013, our REFLECT project organized a party at the ADRA Centre in Fushe-Kruja for the Roma-Community for women, children and teenage girls.

To start, they sang the National hymn of Albania and the children sang many other songs. Then came the highlight everybody had been waiting and preparing for:

The girls had prepared a fashion show with traditional Roma clothes!

A jury proclaimed the winners of the show: 
 Miss Smiley, Miss Elegance, Miss Photogenic, Miss Public and Miss Neighborhood.

After the show we enjoyed a party with juice, cookies and music.

  To celebrate independence day, there is no better way than to celebrate the independence of women!

November in the Roma community of Fushe Kruja

On 29^th of November ADRA staff paid a friendly visit to the Roma community of Fushe Kruja, just to have a chat and visit all the families that live there.

For two months we have been going almost every day to the community to talk with the parents about their children’s progress at school, health, work and many other topics related to the Reflect project. The work in the community has been very intense and all families have been very kind and open towards us. This is why, on 29^th of November, while everybody in Albania was celebrating the Independence Day, we decided to go and spend some hours in the community. 

Mira and Marsela are waiting for us at the ADRA center, and together we walk towards the community. We are pretty lucky today, even though it is very cold, there is an amazingly warm sun. As soon as we arrive at the entrance of the neighborhood, two girls, Kristina 6 and Sonja 7, come running towards us totally barefoot and only with one blouse on. When we ask them if they are cold they answer smiling “No teacher, we are not cold because we are working”. We continue our journey entering in the first house of one of our women, Nila (31). Nila has 4 children, the oldest one 13 years old. Nila is washing the clothes outside in her yard and stops a little while to talk with us. She is happy to see us because she wants to express how happy she is that her son, Orgito, is going to school regularly and doing his homework without anybody’s help. Orgito is one of the youngest pupils registered at the public school in the first grade and he is an example for the other children. We ask Nila if the water she is using is warm and she replies "Yes, the water is warm but only because I am lucky to have a stove and some pieces of wood."

After Nila’s house we stop at Kristina’s house. Kristina is a 12 year old girl that was obliged to get engaged to a young boy, Berti, aged 14. Kristina has decided to break the engagement after 4 months because she didn’t like her new family. As soon as she entered their house, which is situated in the same community, her future mother in law started to treat her badly and to make her work all day long. Kristina went away after four months and went back to her parents’ house. Kristina’s parents tell us that they feel very sad and embarrassed because their daughter’s reputation is ruined and they don’t know if any other Roma boy will choose her as a bride. In most of the Roma communities, also in Fushe Kruja, girls get married at a very young age, and if they don’t get married until they are 16, this represents a problem for the girl’s family.  We ask to see Kristina, and she comes out of the house, ashamed and keeping her eyes at the ground. We hug her, tell we miss her at the school and that it would be wonderful to start school  again after four months of absence. Her eyes look at her mother who has nothing to say but she accepts to let Kristina come to school again. 

We continue our walk in the community, meeting all the children who come out of their houses, smiling and asking us “Are you coming again tomorrow?”

We stop and play with them, spending time with each of them because they need to tell us about school and holidays. It is so amazing to see how the same timid children that two years ago couldn’t even say a word in Albanian have become so alive, speaking Albanian language, hugging and expressing so many feelings without any fear or shyness.
We stop at Suela’s house, one of our best students at the ADRA centre. Suela is 16 and she got engaged last week. After getting engaged, Suela’s new family decided not to let her attend our centre anymore; according to the Roma tradition, young brides should stay home and work as much as they can to earn the respect of the new family. Suela got engaged to a boy of her age who lives in the same community, so we have big hopes to work with her husband too and invite them both to attend ADRA’s activities.

We continue to visit many other houses asking families what their planes are for the winter but, as always, they tell us that their plans change whenever there is need for money. If they have to go and buy second hand clothes or shoes, they travel to Tirana, Durres, Shkoder or even Kosovo or Greece. Anyway, in general, at least during winter, women and children stay home, in the community.

In November we see how the community awakes and we are so happy to see women, men and children we haven’t seen for months, to re-open their houses and adapt themselves again to the community life.